


Lyrebird Song

by JustInkonPaper



Series: The Long Way Around [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Tags to be updated as the story continues;
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-17 08:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8136886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustInkonPaper/pseuds/JustInkonPaper
Summary: It's not easy when you're half of a pair. But sometimes, you have to move forward.  Even if you don't realize what you're leaving behind...or who. But them the breaks! And there's a whole lot of space to explore! Weeks have passed since the rift has closed, the twins have left, and Ford is trying to mend the pieces of his life. But never would he have guessed that he would be close to finding a path home for his brother. The same brother who spent 30 years on earth trying to bring him home. Now it's time to return the favor.





	1. Genesis (Or Ford finally finds the thing)

The old portal room was mostly empty except for the welded base. Ford has asked it be left in place because there was a slim chance he could come up with some kind of rescue plan. The townspeople had pooled together resources and with the newly registered millionaire McGucket, Ford had everything he could possibly need at his disposal. The first step was to try to figure out how thin the fabric of the Nightmare realm was now that Bill was gone. It had always been unstable, acting as the shield between realities. Maybe it even no longer existed without Bill to somehow keep it stable. Maybe it was now reinforced beyond even his greatest tool’s capabilities. 

Second was trying to find out if… _No_ , Ford shook his head, **_HOW!_** _How_ his brother survived the nightmare realm. If Ford was a betting man, he would put money on Stanley’s insane but cruel luck of getting out of a situation alive. He wouldn’t come out unscathed but alive, and they would have time to fix all the issues they had. 

_If he is still able to function or recognize you._ A little voice whispered. _You did erase his mind. There’s nothing of Stan left._

Ford slammed his hand down on his desk. The darkness of doubt had started to grip him even more now that Dipper and Mabel had gone home. That had meant it had been weeks since Stan had been swept up in the Rift. He hadn’t realized how much of his composure had rested on having his niblings near him or how much time had slipped through their fingers as they had struggled to accepted what happened during the first few days. 

He lifted his gaze and looked at the unopened letter sitting on his desk. It had just arrived and he hadn’t had time to read it. If it was anything like the previous letters, Mabel and Dipper were slowly adjusting to high school. The last letter had left him a little unsettled as Mabel mentioned having some trouble sleeping but tried to play it off as trying to get back to a regular sleep schedule following late summer nights of mystery and family bonding. 

He grabbed the letter and in the process jostled the desk, knocking a square machine off the shelf above his desk. It was rusted and covered in a fine layer of dust. Ford picked it up and clicked the power button only for the display to stay blank. 

“Must need a good charge. Haven’t used it since I came home.” He looked around for the charger and upon not finding it with a glance, sighed, and put it done to charge after he took a relaxing stroll. 

He took out a small pocketknife and began to slice open the letter as he stepped into the elevator.

 _Hi Grunkle Ford!_ The letter started off in Mabel’s energetic handwriting, emphasized by the glittery gel pen she had used. 

_Dipper and I wanted to let you know that we’ve survived the worst of the week. A couple of the older kids thought it would be fun to prank us with giant spiders but they were tiny! Nothing could beat what we had to fight with Grunkle Stan._

Ford smiled fondly as he stepped out of the elevator and started up the hallway, sounds of a group of tourists greeted by the new Mr. Mystery. 

“So doods, if you follow me, you will see the first display,” Soos’ laid back tone pulled the tourists along, “the founder of the Mystery Shack. He’s lost right now. But no worries doods, he’ll be back in no time.” 

Ford paused at the optimistic tone Soos had. Leave it to the man-gopher child to not linger on the impossibility of the situation. 

After waiting for the tourist group to move on, Ford slipped out from behind the vending machine. He still wasn’t good at socializing despite the town being friendly and providing him support. It had always been Stanley that was the social one, able to charm a room full of people and get away with the worse social faux pas. Ford never really improved on that skill before or even after returning to this dimension. In fact, it was one of the few things about Stanley that he truly envied even after the science fair incident. 

He stepped out onto the front porch, taking a deep breath of the cool Oregon air. Without a particular destination in mind, he walked forward and started to read the letter again. 

_Do you remember how we mentioned in our last letter that there was a paranormal after school club? Dipper and I decided to go check it out at the club fair! It was pretty neat and there was a cute guy handing out flyers. I had originally been thinking of joining the art club since the art teacher liked my take on wax sculptures._

Ford smiled as he recalled the incident as described by Mabel in her previous letter and could only imagine how much glitter she had used. She would make a great addition to the art club, if not end up ruling it with a glittering fist. 

_But in the end, Dipper and I decided that the paranormal club needed some real leadership. It’s not everyday that you get some real life examples of the paranormal in your club! We’re just waiting to hear back from the club advisors. Can you believe they have never heard of the multi-bear? They need to make the trip to Gravity Falls!_

Here Ford raised an eyebrow in surprise. Sure, Dipper joining the club made sense, but he thought Mabel would want to take a more creative route in high school. 

_It wouldn’t have been my first choice Grunkle Ford, but Dipper and I think it’s for the best. We’re going to put our weirdness knowledge to use. Dipper has already been up late writing reports and I’ve been illustrating them!_

He scrunched up his eyebrows. Up late? They must have been still struggling with nightmares. He still had them himself and it was wearing him down. 

_Um. Grunkle Ford, do you mind if we call you later this week? We have some questions. Sometimes talking to other people helps a lot! I’m sure it can also help you too! We want to talk to you. We miss you. We miss Gravity Falls._

He smiled and made a mental note to call them once he got back to the shack. The letter continued talking about the rest of their high school week, letting Ford know about other after school activities they were looking forward to. Mabel alluded to a couple of other cute boys she had her eye on. And apparently Dipper had been spotted chatting with a real girl! But that was supposed to be a secret. But not for family, no more secrets, Grunkle Stan wouldn’t want that. 

Ford didn’t even realize how far and how long he had ventured into the woods until he almost ran into the statue. He stopped in his tracks. It stood covered in moss, hand outstretched and bathed in sunlight. A cruel reminder of what was left behind after the rest was sealed away and a horrible reminder of what Ford had sacrificed to bring about the end of Weirdmageddon. Ford crumpled the letter in his hand as he reached for the gun at his waist. Rage wasn’t a strange emotion to him at all but now it burned brighter, hotter than before, ready to consume him whole if he let it. His laser gun felt familiar in his hand, finger on the trigger ready to fire. As he readied the gun to fire, a twig snapped. He spun and pointed the gun at the source of the sound.

“Yo!” Exclaimed a tall redhead as she nonchalantly walked towards Ford. “I thought I would find you here. Even on auto cruise, you’re easy to find.” 

Ford lowered his gun and watched as Wendy walked past him, hatchet at her waist. Even though the Weirdmageddon threat had passed, no one walked into the woods without a weapon on hand or a trusted and allied creature watching their back. While the majority of the forest either respected them enough to leave them alone or feared them enough, there were still unknown creatures that could attack them. 

“Sometimes,” Wendy started as she stood in front of the Cipher statue, head tilted down, “on really bad days, I come here and I have a hatchet in my hand. And I think how easy it should be to just destroy the statute. It’s not really him there, you know? But it’s the closest thing we got and I want to destroy it. I’ve tried.” She picked up her hatchet and before Ford could protest, she brought it down. The metal blade bounced back, throwing Wendy off balance. As she stumbled back, Ford could see the statue still standing without any scratches. Wendy muttered a few choice curses and replaced the hatchet at her waist. “I can barely scratch the surface. Gone through more hatches than a lumberjack at the height of wood chopping season.” 

Ford wasn’t sure what to make of this conversation. Should he…just listen? Ford could count the times he had interacted with Wendy on one hand but here she was confessing to him that she had tried to destroy the statue. Stanley had treated her like a mix of annoying younger sibling and adopted daughter, a feeling she reciprocated just as much. Despite the nearly 40-year difference between the two, they had gotten well on and she had picked up some of his not so wholesome skills in quiet respect, quite unlike Soos who made his respect public. 

“And if you could destroy it?” Ford asked.

“It would just feel good,” Wendy curled her hands into fists, “but it wouldn’t bring Stan back.” 

They stood quietly as the wind blew through the forest. Ford folded his arms behind his back. His eyes were locked on the sky. In his mindscape, he could play the events forwards and backwards, what he could have done differently, what he should have done, how Stan would have landed safely. 

In some timeline, he thought, Stan would land kneeling on the forest floor, disoriented and unable to recall whom he was. He’d explain to his niece and nephew exactly what Stan had done to save them, to save him. They would walk him back to the shack and by some miracle, his memories would return. After celebrating the twins’ birthday, they would sail away to battle anomalies worldwide. It would be everything that they had dreamed of as little kids on that sandy shore. But that wasn’t this timeline. 

“I’m working on it.”

“I know.”

“It might not work.”

Wendy just shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s dangerous.” 

“Whatever. We survived the Weirdmageddon. We can take anything on.” 

Ford shook his head at her causal reaction. He let another span of silence pass by before he opened his mouth again.

“Do you think he managed to con any of the monsters swept up with him?”

Wendy let out a snort. “Of course! Stan ran that Shack business for 30 years straight! Have you seen some of the tourist that come through that place?!” 

And with that, they smiled before silently acknowledging the need to return to the Shack. 

* * *

Ford waited until the last of the tourists had left for the day before making the agreed upon call to the twins. Soos had turned the OPEN sign to CLOSED and was heading to the backroom to undress. Wendy was counting out the till. Ford could see the chipped hatchet still at her waist. He wondered if he should start adding a line item to her check that read “Hatchet replacement stipend”. 

“I’ll be in the lab if you need me.” Ford punched in the code. Wendy and Soos gave shouts of acknowledgement before going back to their task at hand. 

As he descended, he wondered how he could broach the subject of his current progress. The twins has been ecstatic at the thought of a rescue mission and had made Ford pinky promise to give them reports and to call them to Gravity Falls as soon as it was ready. 

He pulled out his laptop and let out a deep sigh. Ok, just give them the update and let them know you’re trying. Maybe call in McGucket to review the math again. Wouldn’t hurt to have a second pair of eyes.

As the laptop flickered on from its slumber, Ford noticed the machine sitting on his desk. He reached out for it but the laptop let out a tone that signaled an incoming call. Leave it to the twins to be diligently waiting for him to log on. 

“Evening.” He greeted two smiling faces. 

“Hi Grunkle Ford!” They replied in unison. 

As they chatted, Ford’s eyes would rove around looking for the cord he had built to charge the machine. 

“Grunkle Ford?” Mabel’s concerned voice pulled his attention back to the laptop. “Are you ok?”

Ford mentally slapped himself. He should have known better to try to multi-task with the twins talking to him. “Sorry. I’m actually looking for something. Hang on.” He reached forward and grabbed the machine. As he lifted it, he wiped some of the dust off. “I completely forgot I had this. It’s machine that can pinpoint where there is a rip in the fabric of reality. After I managed to get my hand on a portal gun, I didn’t need it as often. I guess I never really threw it out because I couldn’t just rely on the gun. What if it broke or I couldn’t find a way to keep it charged?” 

The twins exchanged a glance. Ford didn’t talk a lot about his early days spent trapped on the other side of the portal. He just told them that he was happy to have found a way to escape the nightmare realm and land somewhere much safer. 

“What are you planning on using it for?” Dipper questioned. “It only finds portals, it can’t make them can it?”

Ford just smiled. “That’s right. But it might be able to help us locate a place where the fabric of reality is already thin enough to get through without ripping a giant hole in the process. I just need to find the charger I built for it. It will need some minor modifications to adapt to this world’s electricity, but it should work just the same.”

“What does it look like?” Mabel pushed past Dipper, who was trying to squeeze back into the camera space. 

“Mabel, stop pushing me.” Dipper whined. “And there should be a list of everything that is in storage in a folder on your desk.” 

Ford spotted a green folder labeled Storage list. “It’s a gray blue cable about 3 feet in length. It has a yellow band at one end and contact pins on the other. Two of the contact pins are red.”

Dipper had pulled out his journal and was busy sketching the square machine. Mabel had scrunched up her face as she thought about the description. 

“Did the do-hickies look like it was in the shape of a dragon?” Mabel asked.

Ford blinked and looked at the connecter on the bottom of the machine. He had always had such a hard time finding replacement parts for the connectors of the machine that kept him going that he never stopped to consider why it had been so hard to find those pieces. There, the crude outline of a dragon, similar to the logo of the shop. It had been a propriety piece by the tradesman that had let him use its supplies. An expensive propriety piece that he had to find on the underground market. 

“Yes…”

“Then it’s not in storage Grunkle Ford!” Mabel flashed a toothy grin. “It’s in a red box above your mini fridge!” 

“I have a mini fridge?” Ford looked around. 

“Of course! We got you one because you’re not the best at leaving the basement once you get going on a project. It’s the same with Dip-dop here.” Mabel poked her brother who brushed her off as he continued to sketch. “If Mom and Dad didn’t put this mini-fridge here, he would have starved half to death in the middle of his big reports due in middle-school.” 

Ford filed away that piece of information. “Now, where is the mini-fridge?”

“It should be…”Mabel paused. “By the power box.”

Ford motioned for the twins to wait, getting a thumbs up from Mabel and a nod from Dipper. His niece really did take after Stan in her care of Ford. Some role model he’s turning out to be. 

At last he found the mini fridge. Curious, he peeked inside. A slew of meal replacement drinks were stocked along with packaged fruits and cold snacks. Sport drinks lined the door and a few cans of Pitt Cola were included. Yep, this had Mabel written all over it. Literally. Was it ok to even refrigerate glitter glue? 

“Does Dipper have the same kind of nourishment in his?” He called out as he closed the fridge and turned is attention to the red box labeled **Cable Snakes** in metallic sharpie. 

“Yours is a bit different.” Dipper replied, the sound of his book closing in the background. “I can’t find Pitt Cola in stores here.”

“I’ll send you some.” Ford dug through the box and finally took notice of the different shapes the contact pins took. He would have to make his own now that he was home. “Ah! Found it!” Ford pulled out the cable and returned to his desk. “Do you children mind if I make some adjustments while we talk?”

They both rapid shook their head. 

“Good. It should only take a few minutes.” Ford set to work as the twins asked about the history behind the machine. 

“It was several months after I left the nightmare realm.” Ford paused his soldering. “I found myself in the shop of a tradesman who was more than willing to trade me supplies for earth based items. Think they thought it was worth something. Not sure.” 

The last wire had been firmly soldered in place. Ford wrapped up the job in electric tape and held it up. “Done.” 

“There’s a power strip under your desk!” Dipper blurted out. 

“Hurry Grunkle Ford! Hurry!” Mabel shook with excitement. 

The plug was placed; the twins were waiting with baited breath as Ford finally plugged the cord into the machine. He pressed the power button.

Nothing happened.

The twins frowned and began to question what happened. 

“Not sure. It could be that the power source itself has finally died. Hold on, maybe I have another star of darkness crystal around here. Just wa-“ Blue light filled the room and a long beep followed. The display showed paired number after paired number in rapid succession. It rumbled on the desk as it continued to compute. 

“What’s going on?!” 

Ford just stared at the numbers in front of him. “Portals…there were portals opened. Several of them! I think…I think I saw the coordinates for the nightmare realm.”

* * *

There once was a man who lay floating in the swirling darkness. In some worlds, he was devoured at once. In others, he was allowed to awaken and then hunted like sport. Yet others, he was left in deep slumber until his body wasted away. In some, he learned to rule over the darkness. 

But in this world, his body brushed against a tear. And it widen, pulling him into it. Without much fanfare, he was pulled from the darkness and tossed into light. Now it was up to the worlds to either tear him asunder or stitch him back up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH! AH! I did it. Oh man, there was a scene that popped into my head soon after I finished the Abduance chapter that I just had to write and then I built a story around it. And that story involves so much travel and a bit of angst. And that meant I had to write something to bridge the story, so Excess was born. And here we are!
> 
> I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. I'm just going to write this out as I go. And be forewarned, I don't have Journal 3 yet, so if I post something that isn't in line with the journal...there you go.
> 
> And I guess this means, this is now a series. I'll come up with some kind of name for this collection of writing. I'm really bad at titles.


	2. First Steps  (or somethings are worth the wait but it doesn’t hurt to speed up at the end)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares. Coping. Sleepless nights. Mabel Juice. It's all the same at the end of the day. Mabel and Dipper are itching to get back. They don't see what the issue is with going NOW.
> 
> Sometimes it pays off to be impatient. And having parents who worry about your well being.

Dipper and Mabel watched through the screen as their Grunkle scrambled about to find a pen and paper as soon as the shock wore off. 

“Top drawer!” Mabel shouted. “Top drawer!” 

Ford let out a yelp and tore open the drawer. He clicked the pen and started to jot own the numbers, his writing sketchy and scattered. 

The machine continued to rumble excessively, and Ford could feel the heat being generated by the core. He was torn between continuing to write down as many coordinates and shutting the machine down. 

“Shut it down!” Dipper screeched as the machine started to smoke. 

Ford didn’t need to be told twice, he pulled the plug from the machine and looked around for his heat resistance gloves. As he pulled them on, the small wisps of smoke turned into a snaking column. 

He pulled out his fire extinguisher and took aim. The machine was doused in a cloud of carbon dioxide. Ford paused after a minute to take in the status of the machine. The beeping and rumbling had stopped. So had pretty much everything else. The display was seeping a dark blue liquid and the little light bulb was shattered. He put down the fire extinguisher and gingerly picked up the machine. While it didn’t fall apart in his hands, it was beyond repair with parts from this dimension. 

“Grunkle Ford? Is it broken?” Mabel asked. 

Ford snapped to attention. He had completely forgotten that his niblings had seen the whole thing. He checked over the laptop to ensure there was no damage due to the close proximity to the overheating machine and the extinguisher. 

“I’m afraid so. Most of the pieces were custom made by a certain engineer I met on my travels. But it doesn’t matter. I managed to get a list of coordinates.” Ford looked at his hastily taken notes. “Some of these I recognized but some…some are new to me.”

“It has to be Grunkle Stan!” Mabel exclaimed. “He’s trying to get home!” 

Ford gave a half hearted smile. “I don’t know if that’s the case Mabel. Stanley didn’t have a portal opening device on him.” Ford frowned as he tired to recall what he had on him before he and Stan had switched clothing. “At least, I don’t think so.” 

“It has to be! Grunkle Stan got his memories back and now he’s trying to come home!”

Dipper chewed his lips as he took in the conversation. “But Grunkle Ford, he did have some of your things on him when he was…” Dipper trailed off, his throat suddenly running dry. He coughed as looked away from his Grunkle’s worried gaze. “He had something on him that he could have trade for a portal gun. What is one worth anyway?”

Ford couldn’t fathom how Stan would be able to even get a trade to work. It took Ford a full year before he could establish some kind of ongoing battering network with merchants and the underground trading scene that spawned galaxies. But then again, Stan could pass himself off as Ford and use these networks to survive.

_If he can remember who he is._

Ford shook his head. He would be optimistic. Take a page from Mabel’s book. 

“It’s possible. I…” Ford thought about this words carefully. “He could have found a weak spot. Something that could give around him but not tear completely. It was how I was able to get out without anything following me as well.” 

“So it’s possible for Grunkle Stan to leave safely…” Dipper pulled out his notebook and started to write things down. 

Ford finally got a good look at his great nephew. There were bags under his eyes and his skin was several shades lighter than he had expected following a week in the California sun. Ford frowned and turned his attention to his great niece. She was busily asking questions about an upcoming rescue mission (that he was still mulling over) and he could see the tell-tale signs of bags under her eyes as well. Her smile was also a little less brighter than before and she was not as animated. He had wondered if both the strain of the weirdmaggedon and Stan’s disappearance had come surging back now that they were out of Gravity Fall’s supportive collection of townspeople. 

So lost was he in his observations of all the signs that pointed to sleepless nights that he didn’t notice the pause in conversation. His niblings waved their hand in front of him and he gave a startled gasp. 

“Sorry,” He reached up and pulled off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. He was so exhausted. “I’m just a little tired is all.” 

Mabel and Dipper exchanged a look and then gently reached out to touch the screen. Ford looked at their actions in confusion. 

“Grunkle Ford, we miss you.” They both said. 

Ford reached out as well, eyes misty. “I miss you two as well. Wendy and Soos miss you. The whole town misses you.”

“Please promise to get some sleep.” Mabel smiled. 

“Only if you two do the same.” Ford scolded them but his words lacked any real bite. “Are you two having nightmares again?”

Both twins dropped their hands and looked away from the screen.

“I thought so.”

The first night was the hardest. They had slept undisturbed by dreams or visions. And in the morning, they all awoke and reality crashed down. They weren’t in the shack. They had spent the night with Soos and his Abulelita. The twins had woken up minutes before Ford and when they couldn’t find Stan, they were screaming for him. Ford woke up with a start and ran after them as they made a mad dash for the forest. 

“He has to be there! He has to be there! Let us go! We have to go find him!” They had shouted in Ford’s arm. And Ford couldn’t deny that he wanted to run into the forest with them, to scream out Stan’s name and to be greeted with his gruff response. 

And every night, with no Stan coming home, they would stave off sleep until it finally won them over and in their dreams, they would relive the moment over and over again. And little by little, the nightmares grew shorter, less intense as the people of Gravity Falls helped them pick up the pieces of their lives. 

And now without the ability to check on each other and have constant physical contact, they were feeling the strain come back. The creeping feeling that one of them would disappear, whisked off to wherever Stan was. Feelings that were truly unfounded. 

“I…I still have them.” Ford admitted, wanting to give the twins peace of mind. “Its hard to not have them.”

His were filled with the last moment he saw his brother, unconscious at the end of the grappling hook, fingers reach out to grab hold. His fingers had only been a breath away when the light blinded him. The nightmares continued from that point. He was falling, and then he saw the twins flying by them. Sometimes they were unconscious, bodies limp like rag dolls. Those weren’t the worst. The worst were the ones where they were alert, terrified, reach out to him, screaming his name and begging him to do some. 

“Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford! Do something!” They stretched out their hands, tears streaking their face. “GRUNKLE FORD!”

And his body wouldn’t obey. He would watch them be pulled away and the rift closing, lost among the monsters and stars. On those nights, he would get up and tip toe towards the twins’ room to take in their sleeping forms or on some nights, to have an impromptu hot chocolate date. 

And now, as the worse nightmares crept in, there was little beyond the video chats that calmed him, to find some kind of reassurance that the twins were still here safe and sound. 

“If…If I were to talk to your parents, maybe we could have you come to Gravity Falls for a little while.” Ford suggested. “Maybe over winter break?”

“We can transfer!” Dipper moved out of the camera’s view and Ford could hear him digging through his backpack. Dipper came back holding a few books and a handful of paperwork. “I was looking into this last night. It’s not that hard to transfer over our student records now. Gravity Falls has one high school but I know that the faculty would probably be equal to Piedmont High!” 

Dipper flipped through the largest of his book and went on about California law and Oregon law having an overlap in transferring school records. There was something about getting Grunkle Ford to sign on as their legal guardian while they studied and having thought up a convincing argument to give to their parents. 

“Dipper, Dipper! I think we should talk to your parents about this first. Start small.” 

“No can do Grunkle Ford!” Mabel shook her head. “We have a missing Grunkle to rescue and another one to take care of!” 

Ford wanted to laugh. Leave it to the twins to be gung-ho about asking their parents, who just got them back, to let them transfers and live in Gravity Falls with the person they believed was the same Uncle Stan they knew. How were they going to convince them that Stanford Pines had hidden away his genius and now after all this time, he could be their own private teacher? Probably the same way they had convinced them to keep Waddles, Mabel’s pet pig. That had to haven been a wild conversation. Ford smiled. He would trust the kids to get the ball rolling with their parents. 

“Fine. We’ll do things your way. I’ll give your parents a call tomorrow to talk to them. We’ll figure out what to do. In the meantime, I’ll start working up some schematics on a new machine designed to pinpoint weak spots in the fabric of reality.”

“Rescue mission! Rescue mission!” Mabel pumped her arms into the air. “We’re going to rescue Grunkle Stan and travel the universe!” 

Dipper soon joined in chanting, “Rescue Mission! Rescue mission!”

They continued to chat about what they had to get in order to start building the machine and if maybe McGucket and the Northwests would be willing to find the more obscure parts. 

Ford had the twins promise to call the Shacks’ basement line if they had problems sleeping. Odds were that he would be up as well and they could talk. Mabel and Dipper promised gleefully and then they all signed off. 

As the program shut down, Mabel stopped smiling and Dipper looked at his sister. 

“We’ll get there soon.” Dipper reached out and gave his sister’s hand a squeeze. 

“I know…it’s just…”Mabel chewed her bottom lip. “We’re wasting time. Grunkle Stan is out there somewhere and we’re here trying to get back to Gravity Falls!” 

Dipper sighed. “I know, I know.”

“This is why I said we should just buy bus tickets and leave a note!”

“You know that as soon as we got there, Grunkle Ford would send us back.”

Mabel pouted. “No he wouldn’t. Not if it was to rescue Grunkle Stan.” 

They sat in silence. 

“I want to go back to Gravity Falls.” Dipper rested his head on his sister’s shoulder. There was a deep-seated fatigue that filled him. He was tired. His sister had insisted that they join some kind of club to help distract them. If they kept busy, then maybe they could sleep through the night without any dreams or nightmares. Mabel laid her head on her brother’s. She was going through Mabel juice like there was no tomorrow. Dipper had recently started requesting the drink as the nights went by. And she supplied it. 

Their nightmares were similar. They had their hands around Grunkle Ford’s legs. And then that bright light. Them falling to earth. Sometimes, they would lose hold of Grunkle Ford and he would yell at them to stay away or to not come after them as he was also swept up. Sometimes, on some nights, Ford would plead for them to come find him and Stan. While they were still in Gravity Falls recovering, they would wake each other up and bolt for Ford, finding him in his study mulling over blue prints or standing on the porch, his eyes glued to the sky that took his brother away. 

“We’ll get there Dipper.” Mabel whispered, eyes heavy with sleep. Dipper let out a unconvinced snort. “One way or another.” There was a pause. “I’ll take the first round, so get some sleep Dipper.”

Dipper let out a yawn. “Ok.” He got up and stretched. Slowly, he climbed into his bed and pulled the blankets over him. 

This was how they slept. In short intervals that didn’t allow them to dream, because they were still very much afraid of what their mind would conjure up for them.

Mabel made room on her own bed for Waddles and picked up her phone. She turned on a timer and then pulled out her notebook. Homework sucked but it was a good distraction while she waited to go back. 

She had just gotten to the last 5 math problems when the timer sounded. Turning off the buzzer, she walked over to Dipper and shook him awake. 

Dipper rubbed the sleep from his eyes and smiled at Mabel. “Your turn.”

And so this repeated during the night, Dipper finishing up his homework and turning his attention to the journal entries while Mabel got around to adding her own sketches to the book. 

Their parents were finally convinced that these sleep issues were not just a routine issue when the school had called them in. Mabel and Dipper had been found asleep in the library and upon being woken up, had started to frantically call for their Grunkle Stan. They had been nearly inconsolable until a staff member had pulled out their phone and asked if they knew his phone number. Following a blubbering mess of a conversation, they twins finally calmed down and were lead to the office. 

Their mother was the first to respond, showing up and finding her children huddled together with a cup of tea in hand. She scooped them into her arms and finally took in their appearance. How she had talked herself into overlooking their poor sleep and state of mind, she didn’t know. And she was mentally berating herself for thinking that the last couple of weeks were anything so simple to write off. 

Their father had headed straight home and found his wife and children at the kitchen table, the twins sipping the odd pink drink as they refused to lift their gaze. 

“Kids,” Their mother started as their father sat down, “talk to us please. We’ll listen. Just tell us what’s wrong.” 

Mabel and Dipper exchanged a look. They were having a silent conversation. 

Dipper cleared his throat as Mabel focused on her cup of Mabel juice. “Has Grunkle…Has our Great Uncle talked to you?”

“Yes.” 

“So you know…We want to go back to Gravity Falls.”

“Why?”

“We…like it there. We like the town and the people. We saw so many things there. Half of the things you wouldn’t believe.” Dipper started. “What we saw during the summer could fill a library!” 

“We made so many new friends!” Mabel interjected. “And…and we…we, helped save the town.” 

“How?” Their father was the one to ask. 

“We helped Grunkle Stan get rid of someone who wanted to tear down the town. We tricked the person into going away forever.” Mabel added. “And now…now we realize how much we miss it. Please, let us go back to Gravity Falls!”

“We already know what we need to get transferred over!” Dipper knocked over his cup as he pulled up his backpack and overturned it over. “We just need to make sure they get a copy of our student records, our vaccines from our doctor, and there are a couple of forms you need to sign as well.”

“And Grunkle Stan already has space for us to stay with him!” Mabel blurted out. “He took good care of us during the summer! I know that he would do the same during the school year! He’d take care of us even if we ended up lost in space!”

Their parents took in their children’s animated augments. It had been the first time since they came home that they showed any kind of excitement since they got back. It had been like they were constantly holding their breath in anticipation or fear. 

“Dear?” Mother Pines placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder.

He ran his fingers through his brown hair and fixed his children with a stare. “Are you really that set on spending high school in Gravity Falls?” 

“Yes!” 

“I don’t know…”

“We promise to send you our report cards every month!”

“Every week!” 

“We’ll write!” 

Their voices overlapped as they shouted out everything they would be willing to do if they were allowed to return to Gravity Falls. 

Any protest their parents had died down. 

“Ok. We get it. We get it.” Their father held up his hands in an attempt to get them to settle down. “We need to talk to Uncle Stanford, get some details on what the school system is like.”

“Yes!”

“But don’t take that to mean we’ve agreed.”

“We won’t,” Mabel smiled. 

_Great. I can’t say no now._ Their father thought. 

“Go finish your homework.” Their mother picked up their cups and started to wipe away the spilled juice. 

The twins sprinted for their room, a new bounce in their step. 

“What are we going to do?” 

“What else? Let’s get Uncle Stanford on the phone.”

* * * 

Ford was pacing in his study, trying to will the clock to move forward. The flight was supposed to arrive at 7 that evening and the clock barely read 9 am. He had never been so nervous to talk to anyone than when his phone rang several afternoons ago. He knew it was coming and braced himself for the line of questioning coming from the Pines. He tried his best to imitate his brother’s gruff way of speaking while at the same time trying to play up his knowledge base. There were several tense moments when he felt that he had played the ruse incorrectly only for the Pines parents to brush it off. And finally they agreed to send them back. For the good of the kids of course. 

Always, Ford agreed. 

The Shack had been closed down for the day. Ford had told Soos and Wendy that they wouldn’t need to be at work on that particular date and when pressed for why, Ford let them know. Before he could ask them to keep it quiet, they were no longer in the room. The news spread like wildfire. In the days leading up to the inevitable day, the town brought by homecoming gifts and invites to be there to welcome the kids. He thanked them all but felt that it was best, at least for the first day, that only family be there to greet the children. 

So he was surprised when the clock read a quarter past 2 that knocking came from the front door. Didn’t he put up a sign stating the Shack was closed for a private matter? Maybe it fell down? 

“Sorry! Closed!” Ford shouted. 

The knocking continued. 

Ford walked down the hallway. “Like I said, we’re closed! Please stop by tomorrow!” 

Still the knocking continued and Ford threw the door open irritated. “We’re clo-“

Two small bodies threw themselves against him, knocking him to the floor. Their smiling faces peered down at him and the first thought Ford had was that they shouldn’t be here now it was too early. 

But as his arms wrapped around them, his second thought was to thank Tesla that they were in his arms, warm, alive, real. Safe. 

They buried their faces into his chest, fingers digging into the wool. He was real and he was safe. 

Every single ounce of stress, fatigue, and sadness melted away as they lay on the floor of the Shack, taking in the comfort they had been desperately chasing. 

Ford broke the moment by simply stating, “You’re early.”

“Yeah…about that. We kind of switched the tickets to an earlier departure.”

“Oh?”

Way back in Piedmont, their father re-read the note from Mabel and Dipper. Somehow, the kids giving them the slip under the guise of saying good-bye to their friends and leaving earlier than planned didn’t faze him. Since they agreed, it had taken everything to stop Mabel from stealing away his credit card and buying tickets right then and there or Dipper from trying to push the school system to expedite the process. They had rambled off a list of people that could just step in and basically get all the legal matters resolved with a snap of their fingers. He just was relieved that they had waited as long as they did while the paperwork went through the proper channels and had left with this Pacifica Northwest person. She had sounded like a good friend to the twins. 

Note in hand, he checked his watch. They should have arrived by now. Best to let his wife know that their dinner plans were canceled. Shame really, he had been looking forward to the turkey dinner.

* * *

Stories were shared of a clear night sky filled with scattered stars. Moons were slowly making their way across the sky. Creatures were migrating across the sloping dunes towards their home to celebrate another period of calm peace and reunite with pack members. 

Then the sky erupted into swirling nauseous looking color. Shrieks poured from the vortex. Eyes could be seen but before limbs could be put through, the colors were snuffed out and a streak of blue was seen hurling towards the planet. Something had escaped. Something was burning. Something was coming.

On the horizon, a bright white light that faded to blue, dissolving into the darkness of the night. A convoy of creatures that had paused to watch the thing crash all rustled in curiosity. Should they go see? 

A lone creature broke from the group, a sense of wonder at discovery and overwhelming curiosity winning over logic and reason. It would worry after it had seen what had landed on its planet. 

When it arrived many, many moments later, it could see the scar left by the object. A large wide crater spiked with tall cold blue shards and smaller warm red crystals. The creature gazed around but couldn’t see what had made the impact. Filled with resolution, it glided down the edges and floated towards the center. It still must be here among the rubble. 

There was a ring of fine ashen powder. It touched the ring and thought of what could have made this. 

Gravel crunched. The creature turned it focus and found the source of the sound right behind it. 

Eyes. Eyes wide and with narrow pupils, colored yellow. The eyes closed and opened, colored brown. Eyes closed again and opened again, colored yellow once more. A monster stood before it. 

Stories were told often, of how something had arrived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was writing this, I couldn't help but think _I really hope Journal 3 doesn't have details on how Ford escaped the nightmare realm...Oh...I bet it does. Oh no. Journal 3 will have that. It has to...I have gone against canon! People will call me out on it! What do I do?! I should just stop writing this chapter and not mention it anymore. But my brain...it has so many ideas on how to handle Ford's escape from the nightmare realm...Conclusion? I need to buy Journal 3. Yeah, take that stupid brain._
> 
>  
> 
> Here we go. Story is revving up. I should probably re-watch the series for research and fun purposes. Anyone know if Journal 3 goes into details about Ford's escape?


	3. Welcome Home (or there are warm fuzzy feelings thrown between plot)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pines are reunited and we get a peek at what is going on with Stan. 
> 
> There is a party. And fuzzy feels.
> 
> And crowd surfing.

The creature let out a whistle and soon a ring of other creatures surrounded the crater. Each stood, their bell jar dome body overlapping, a curtain of thin tendrils skirting the ground and several thick tentacles up in defense. Above the group was a large massive body, frills trailing down and thin tentacles fanning out. 

The monster looked around, eyes shuttering from brown to yellow in confusion. It turned to the lone creature in the middle of the crater. The monster moved its body in slow jerky movements, almost unsure of itself. 

The lone creature swelled up, it’s large dome body pulsing red, it’s tentacles poised at its side, barbs hidden within. It wasn’t the largest in the group but by no means was it a push over either. 

The monster lifted an appendage, reaching out when it stopped and collapsed to the ground in a heap. It let out a growl and slowly withdrew itself into a ball, appendages twitching. 

The creature floated back, unsure about this new development. The red faded away and it’s usual opaque milky white coloring returned. It shrank back down and approached the monster that lay on the ground. With a tentacle, it poked the monster. Nothing. It nudged the monster and when that didn’t produce any reaction beyond a low growl, it slammed its tentacle down right beside it. 

The monster leapt up, confusion and fear being given off on waves as its eyes settled into yellow and brown. It barked out something alien and the creature just gently swayed in mild confusion. With newfound courage, it reached out and poked the creature, tentacle tipped blue. The monster batted away the tentacle and let out a roar, this time snapping its jaw. 

A thought ran through the group and soon they found words for the monster in the crater, words spoken during a strange tale of a visitor from beyond their galaxy. This was a human. A weak creature that needed to consume energy constantly, grew at a slow rate, and did not belong on this planet. A shudder swept through them as they all started down at their companion in the crater and this human. What a primitive thing this human was. 

The creature let out a soft gurgle and tried to approach the human once more. The human jerked back, limbs scrapping against the ground as it scooted away. This mad scramble continued until the human was up against a large blue crystal, resulting in loud mewing and water streaming from his odd colored eyes. Ah, it sounded so much like one of their lost little ones. 

The creature floated over to the terrified human and lifted a single tentacle. It was a risk but maybe, it could show that it wasn’t going to harm this human. The milky white of its domed body turned soft blue and the light pulsed down the tentacle. The human muted its growl and soon the water at the edge of its eyes slowed. Slowly, it gently touched the human’s face, all the while letting out a string of soft gurgles and whines. The human softened, the tension easing from his body as the tentacle slowly combed back his stardust colored fur. The repetitive motion lulled him into a state of half sleep. He let out a sign followed by a low hum, eyes closing as it leaned into its touch. 

The creature noticed the change and slowed its motion. It touched the area above the odd colored eyes, the tip of its tentacle glowing a muted purple. For what it wanted to do next, they both needed to be calm otherwise all the background noise could render both of them unable to move for several days if done incorrectly. Just a little peek into the human’s mind, to know more about its kind, to establish some kind of communication, anything that it could use. 

Ah! There. The human’s mind opened. That didn’t take so long after all. Now maybe it could see how it even got here in the first place. 

In an instant, the human and the creature sized up before letting out a high pitch shriek. Bright blue and crisp white arches of electricity swirled around them, leaving dark branching scars in the ground. Incomprehensible gurgles and gibberish cut through the sound of scorching ground. A scream mixed in before creature and human were pushed apart, both falling to the ground in a shower of yellow sparks. The creature pooled into a dark gelatinous mass, silent, still. 

A swarm broke from the line and descended upon the unconscious human, barbed tentacles at the ready, their bodies pulsating an angry vivid red. 

A feeble squeak stopped the barbs mere millimeters away form the human’s skin. All attention turned to the injured creature as it lifted a blacken appendage. It clicked and whistled between strained gurgles, struggling to communicate. But its message was clear enough: Do not hurt the human. It’s messaged seemingly received, it pulled itself into a small sphere. 

The largest of the creature moved slowly forwards, a hum vibrating through the air as it dipped its many appendages over the harmed creature and human. As it scooped both up, it let a bellow. The other creatures echoed the bellow and floated ahead, swimming over the sloping hills. Whistles were exchanged and a curious, nervous energy ran through the convoy. The group looked back at the harmed creature and limp human. What had caused the peering to go so wrong? They had never seen such a thing happen before, even with the most unwilling of participants. 

The creature drained and attempting to recover, dreamt of a field of blooming blue flowers, a faint far off cry, and then suffocating darkness. It had been so _quiet._

* * *

Ford wanted to continue holding his great niece and great nephew but a question nagged at him.

“How did you get here? Who drove you?”

“Pacifica did!” Mabel sat up and pulled out a cellphone. She showed Ford a picture of the three of them in the backseat of a car. “Well, her driver did!” 

“She’s come around.” Dipper added, sliding off of Ford’s chest. “Once we got the OK from Mom and Dad, Mabel got in touch with Pacifica to help get us here earlier.”

Ford sat up, Mabel settling in his lap. “And your parents?”

“Taken care of.” Mabel gave him a wide grin. “We left them a note!”

“You left them a note?” 

“Yep!”

“So they don’t know you’ve left early?”

“They should know by now.” Dipper looked at his phone. 

“Uh…” The phone in his study began to ring. All three looked in its general direction. 

“It’s probably Dad.” Mabel added suddenly taking intense interest in the scratch and sniff sticker on her carry on luggage. 

“Yep, Dad. Good old Dad.” Dipper added, not making eye contact with Ford. 

Ford got to his feet and squared his shoulder. He had faced countless bounty hunters, battled creatures beyond imagination, and went up against Bill Cipher, Dream Demon and near destroyer of reality. He could handle a mother. Just try to smooth talk it over. Stan could do it, so why couldn’t he? With that resolution, he picked up the phone. 

He was wrong. He was _very_ wrong. There were no words for how wrong he was. He was million layers of wrong. The woman was miles and miles away and he could have hung up the phone, yet he listened to her panicking and asking if they had arrived safely, why didn’t they tell her?! She had set up a great dinner! And so on, causing him to sink further and further into his chair like he used to when his mother berated him. He was spared further torment and embarrassment when the twins’ father took the phone from his wife. 

“She means well.” He spoke. “We just wanted to make sure they arrived safe and sound.”

“That’s what I was asking!” Mother Pines called out. 

“They are here.” Ford replied, relief evident in his voice. “I’ll keep them safe. You can count on that.”

“I suppose you will, since you kept them during the summer months.” Father Pines spoke. “And Uncle Stanford?”

“Yes?”

“If you ever need to talk…just know we’re here too.” 

Ford tilted his head in confusion. Where did this come from? He coughed and cleared his throat. Be Stanley. Be Stanley. “I’ll have my hands full with these two here. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to send you updates!” 

“Of course Uncle Stanford. We’ll talk later.” 

“Take care of the kids like your life depends on it!” Mother Pines added. “I want to hear from them at least once a month! Tell them I’ll send them winter clothes soon!” 

“Yes, yes.” Ford sighed. “We’ll be fine.”

The conversation ended with several long good-byes and Dipper and Mabel sheepishly promising their parents to not run off again without some prior notice. Not that they had done that before, nope. First time just running ahead of schedule…

“Well, that was…an adventure.” Ford hung up the phone. 

Dipper and Mabel both looked at their Grunkle and threw their arms around him once more. 

“Sorry Grunkle Ford.” They both said in unison. 

Ford looked down at their remorseful faces and let out a breath. “I’m not angry. I’m actually really glad to have you here again.” He knelt down to their eye level. “The Shack isn’t the same without you two here. It gets too quiet.”

Mabel and Dipper smiled brightly. They released themselves from Grunkle Ford and grabbed their luggage. All three started up the stairs, a comfortable silence between them. 

Mabel pushed open the door and there was the room with the twin beds waiting. She walked over to her bed, dropped her suitcase at the foot, and climbed in, rubbing her face into the familiar bed.

“I missed this bed.” She said out loud.

Ford walked over to her and noticed her starting to nod off. He was about to pull up her blanket, when she reached out and grabbed his sleeve. In her half asleep state, she smiled and tugged on his coat. She patted the bed. Ford mouthed “me?” before Mabel nodded and patted the bed again. 

Ford couldn’t say no as she stared up at him with that warm smile. He settled himself on the twin size bed and looped an arm around his great niece. As he started to get settled, he felt the bed sink once more and found Dipper nuzzling up to his empty side. Dipper let out a wide yawn and rubbed his eyes. 

Ford felt fatigue fill him. He felt his body relaxing and going lax. The children were nestled against him, fingers gripping his sweater once more. He didn’t care that the fabric may stretch, it made them feel comfortable. With a sigh through his nose, he saw their eyes fluttering in early sleep and suddenly, his own felt heavy. 

And they spent the next few hours in an unusual sleep pattern. One would wake in mild panic, look around and see the other two before attempting sleep again. But compared to the weeks leading up to this moment, they were able to face their nightmares with a little more courage and a lot more reassurance. 

They were still sprawled out on Mabel’s bed when Wendy and Soos stopped by. They found the trio softly snoring and preceded to take pictures. These would be great pictures to include in the scrapbook Mabel would surely build later. 

“Sweet dreams dudes.” Soos closed the door. 

Ford, Mabel, and Dipper only scrunched themselves closer together, content under the mess of blankets that were haphazardly thrown over them. They were home. 

oooo

Hours later, all three were awoken to the sound of loud clattering in the kitchen. The twins latched onto Ford who quickly got to his feet, hand flying to this belt. His usual weapon had been put away after the last time he aimed it at Wendy when she had tried to rouse him from one of his nightmare. 

“Stay quiet.” Ford whispered to the two who hung from his shoulders. “I don’t have a weapon on me so if I tell you to run, you run. Got it?”

“Right.” 

“Got it!” 

Ford tiptoed down the hallway and down the stairs. The clanging was getting louder and soon there were voices. Ford hesitated and the twins tightened their grip on their Grunkle. Feeling the twin’s uncertainty he gave a shrug, jostling the twins and momentarily distracting them.

They all exchanged a hesitant smile and continued down the rest of the way. It was fine. They were all together in the Mystery Shack. Nothing was going to harm them. 

Ford held up 3 fingers. Mabel and Dipper nodded in agreement. They all stared ahead and with a deep breath, they turned the corner into the living room. 

**“SURPRISE!”** Came a million voices. 

Ford, Dipper, and Mabel brought down their hands covered in streamers and glitter. Mabel was the first to recover, letting out a high pitch squeal. She dove into the crowd, arms grabbing people for hugs and throwing glitter into the air. Within a few seconds, she was already being thrown in the air and crowd surfing. 

Ford and Dipper recovered from their surprised state and walked into the welcome party. Wendy was manning the entrance way, controlling the wave of people trying to make their way into the Shack with weak results. Soos for his part started up the music and disco ball. 

“Welcome to the Welcome Back party for the Pines Family!” Soos yelled into a microphone. “It’s time to party!” 

“Should we stop the party?” Ford whispered in a hiss.

“No.” Dipper shook his head. “We couldn’t stop it if we wanted too. Grunkle Stan would have set the whole thing up himself.” 

Ford smiled as his nephew ran into the crowd, hands in the air for a slew of high fives. Just as he was about to find himself a refreshment (and a quiet corner) he was stopped by Wendy. 

“Nope. You’re not slipping away from the party.” Wendy smiled, eyes full of mischief. With a single pull of his jacket, Ford found himself stumbling into a mass of arms and smiles. He felt people pat him on the back, shake his hand, hug him, kiss him on the cheek, and whoa, whoa! Hands shouldn’t be the low on the back! Before someone started chanting “Pines! Pines!”. His feet left the ground and he felt a dozen hands on his back, ferrying him across the room. 

His niblings waved at him and gave him a thumbs up as they were passed around. Ford even spotted Waddles being passed around. He was unsure what to do and went stiff. 

“Yeah! Party up Gravity Falls!” Soos’ voice reverberated through the Shack. “Cause tomorrow, we have a rescue to plan! We’re bringing back the original Mr. Mystery!”

“PINES RESCUE! PINES RESCUE!” The crowd cheered, tossing the Pines family higher into the air, each letting out some kind of exclamation of joy, concern, or a mix of both. 

And the party raged on, the town celebrating the return of the younger Pines twins. They were happy, to have all of the Pines back. 

Well, almost all of the Pines. Tonight would be the last fun filled night because come morning, they were all pooling resources to get Stanley Pines back where he belonged. And once he was back, the town was ready to crash down on him with praise, respect, and above all else, the affection he so rightly deserved. They had to get back their gruff and soft scoundrel. 

As Ford surrendered himself to the possibility that he wasn’t getting down from above the crowd for a while, he marveled at the fact that the entire town was already hopeful that a rescue could be done. He looked around and spotted his old friend McGucket chatting with a few townspeople. Off near Soos was Pacifica Northwest, a slip of paper in her hand and a microphone in the other. She looked bored but still read off some kind of pep talk about wormholes and statistics. She shot McGucket a look (who returned it with his own vapid smile) before she crumpled the paper and finished her speech with a pledge to donate some money.

Wendy was leaning against a wall, a glass of some kind of pink liquid and a plate piled with food. Somehow the crowd had steered him towards her and she held up the plate of food and liquid to him. He reached out and secured the offerings, balancing the plate of food on his stomach. As he was spirited away again, he saw Wendy once more get a plate and cup ready. Dipper was up next and not far behind him was Mabel, who at some point had gotten a hold of a confetti cannon. Well, might as well get comfortable. He was going to be up here a while. He’d figure out the bathroom situation later. 

Oh. Were those cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon?

* * *

The convoy arrived to their destination. There was a mass gathering with a multitude of creatures all exchanging greetings, gifts, and stories. A harmony of chirps and whistles filled the air. The celebration was underway. But before the convoy could join in, they had injured to attend to. 

The injured creature was handed over to a team of six creatures waiting with a large bowl. They gently took the creature away to heal and inquire about the failed peering. 

Another team fluttered forward, tentacles outstretched to ferry away the human. The human stirred in their tentacles but did not wake. They took this to be a good sign. Creatures that move should keep moving. It is only proper. 

They laid the human on a pile of soft, malleable leaves and placed magenta tipped tentacles on the human. A low hum filled the air as they set to work assessing the damage.

Splits in flesh. 

Lacerations of the protective outside layer. 

Internal spilling of blood.

There were long calcium rich deposits that were cracked.

This poor human. A creature touched the human's head in a sign of pity and found that there was an odd machine attached to the human’s head. Small, compact, electric, and stained red.

A panicked gurgle went out and a larger frilled creature glided over. It took the machine into its tentacle, turning it over and over. With a confident whistle, it returned it to the attending creatures. Pushing through, it laid a green tipped tentacle to the area the machine came from. The red blood had stopped oozing. With fine precision, it focused on exploring the area around it. It pulsed grey as it felt the cells beneath its tentacle respond. Slowly, the frilled creature lifted several more tentacles, each glowing dark grey. It hovered over the human and creatures, taking in the structure of the cells and placement of the organs. It willed the cells to return to a better former state and absorbed the information of how the human was built. 

And then the human floated. It rose up, arches of electricity cutting through the air. A cry went out and the smaller creatures fled in terror. But the giant frilled one, it stayed, small thin and dark red tentacles whipping out to direct the electricity away and towards the ground. It hadn’t been given the highest title of healer for nothing! 

As the electricity continued to mount and it’s smaller tentacles were beginning to sting, it decided to stop the rejuvenation process. The human had been healed enough but something was blocking the creature from reversing the ravages of time even further. And worse was the mind of this poor human. It understood why the peering had gone so very wrong. They never had seen such a desolate mind before.

With one final flourish, it battled off the last and strongest of the electric bolts. The human landed on the ground with a loud **THUD.**

The frilled creature, drained, floated down to peer at the human. Some of the wear and tear of time had been healed. The lacerations and internal bruising had vanished. Even the long fractures in the bones were healed over. There was still some question on the fundamentals of how human hearing worked with such small receptors but it could wait as the internal damage had been healed to an earlier point of health. The human wouldn’t need the tiny machine from this point forward. And if the issue of the electric energy was taken care of, the creature could probably reserve the damage of time even further. It would involve a lot of work but surely if the human survived this long and continued to survive, then there was much to learn about human life! Oh the possibilities and knowledge it could impart to others from first human study! 

The human stirred and opened its eyes. The odd eye colors sent a chill through the creature. The creature drew itself up to its full height, its body giving off a powder blue color. Excitement and knowledge seeking would wait for later, now it had to be at the ready for any possible need to sedate the human or further help in the rejuvenation process.

The human blinked and opened its mouth. It said something that the creature couldn’t quiet understand. A few creatures from the convoy that brought the human gathered around. They all rustled as the human moved about, it’s different colored eyes taking in its surroundings. 

A representative from the convoy glided over to the lead healer and let them know how the human first acted when they found it. So the human was showing a marked improvement. There was confidence in its movement despite the twinge of fear it still held. The human turned its eyes to the lead healer once more. It made its way towards it and lifted an appendage. It was trembling but then it wrapped its appendages around the trailing tentacles. 

The creature felt the warmth of the human and slowly it drifted lower and lower, its tentacles pooling around the human. Despite the glaring differences in physiology between creature and human, there was one thing, one gesture that bridged the chasm of communication: a hug. Happily given and happily received. 

The creature turned pearly white, a multitude of colors reflecting off its skin as its tentacles gently wrapped up the human. In the touching moment, the creature placed a purple tipped tentacle to the back of the human’s head. Just a peek…to see if its healing had helped with the poor human’s empty mind. 

There wasn’t much to peer into despite the healing: a few faint unfocused memories and words that floated around. But what bubbled to the surface in sharp focus during the shared moment of contentment was a large field of vibrant blue flowers and a grey sky. And then the flowers exploded into wide dancing petals. 

The human repeated the same sound it had made earlier. Now the creature understood the sound. It was how the human communicated. 

Jellyfish. What a cute sounding human communication!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Try to describe an animal that someone has never seen. Try to do that for two things that are alien to each other. It's a great writing exercise. And a pain. So I may have decided to just put the copout at the end of the chapter. Who was able to guess the creatures are basically alien jellyfish? 
> 
> Plot is moving along as well as a change in how the chapters are structured. We'll see more and more of what is going on where ever Stan landed and what the consequences of the Memory gun are in this universe. And the rescue attempt is about to start in the next chapter.


	4. Stabilize (or the road to recovery isn’t always paved with happiness)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being among aliens has its down side. Worse when you can't even remember your own name or were you come from. Let's see how that pans out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hardest chapter to write. Probably the hardest chapter to read as well. I'm sorry.

His heart was pounding. There was little room for error. He only had a 30 second head start and very little of it to spare. The jelly creatures were much better trackers than he had thought and he wanted to avoid another humiliating and potentially painful capture. 

This would be the time he gained the upper hand. He felt it deep in his bones. He threw himself into the overgrowth and flattened himself just in time as a group of jellies rocketed by, all of them glowing orange-red, tentacles whipping in the wind. They were all focused on the worn path in front of them. Amateurs. He wasn’t a human they could command! 

He took two deep breaths and bolted from his spot. If his mental map was correct, then up ahead would be a dense patch of forest he could find shelter in. Last time he had been so close he could taste triumph. But then he tripped up and was found, dragged back to the camp for further examination.

 _Watch out to your right!_ a voice whispered. 

He jumped and grabbed onto a low hanging branch to his left, just as a lone jelly tumbled out onto his path. 

“Ha!” He climbed through the tangled branches. There were loud upset clicks and whistles coming from behind him as he snaked his way through the mess of branches and vines. Being a much smaller creature had its advantages at time. It would take them time to be able to squeeze into the maze the branches made. In the mean time, he would be able to cut through the forest and make it to the river and victory! He was smug when the branch below him began to smoke and white flames traced out his footprints. Oh for victory’s sake, why now of all times? He didn’t need this now! He tried to stamp out the flames but in his hurry to stop the fire, the branch snapped underneath him. He grabbed at vines that helped slow but not prevent the fall. With a loud “umph!” he found himself rolling to a halt, foliage stuck in his hair and what he was sure to be a long scrape running up the side of his face. With a groan, he got to his feet and started jogging towards the direction he was sure the river mouth was. 

He climbed over large exposed tree roots but soon he could hear the soft rush of water. Up ahead was a large boulder flanked by two large, old trees. Trying to stop now and go around these behemoth trees would cost him time he didn’t have. With a look around, he plotted the path that would allow him to clear the boulder and get that much closer to the river. 

“Come on!” He muttered under his breath as he kicked off from the ground. His feet made contact with the springy roots, giving him the extra lift he needed to get up. His hands made contact with the rock and he vaulted, a cocky grin on his face as he imagined the river mouth. 

The grin was soon replaced with a look of terror as he finally crested the boulder and saw what was awaiting him. On the other side was a steep drop into a chasm below. He had miscalculated where he was and now would pay the consequences for it. Arms flailing, his only thought was of how he was going to die out here in the middle of no where, body going unfound and how his family would never know what happened to him. 

He closed his eyes, listening to the wind whistling as he fell. And fell. And continued to fall. Wow, this was a long way down. Why hadn’t he hit the ground below? 

He cracked open a yellow eye and saw the blue green sky above him. He was moving downwards but not as fast as he had thought. The whistling trailed off as he sat up and looked at what was really happening. 

A mass of small jelly creatures was underneath him, withering as they all worked to support his weight. He let out a sharp laugh as the little ones flew through the chasm, all of them giggling. 

Below them was a blue river, silver eel creatures slicing through the current. A few jelly creatures broke from the group to gather an arm full of the eels to take back to home base. 

He reached into the pocket of his overcoat and pulled out a blade of grass. He lost. Horribly! He placed the grass between his thumbs and let out a high-pitched shrill whistle. The creatures below him tossed him up in the air and he winced as he landed on them again. 

“Hey! I can’t help it if I’m still learning!” He coughed out.

 _Could have made a better sound!_ the voice from earlier commented. 

“Oh shut up.” He grumbled. 

He crawled towards the head of the mass, feeling the wind brush over him. He pursed his lips together and let out a whistle. The rest of the group returned the whistle in pitch and tone. A cascade of water fell on him and he looked up to see the jellies from earlier shaking themselves dry above him. 

“Hey! Watch it!” He covered himself with his arms. 

A loud bellow echoed through the chasm. The jellies all turned dusty pink as he pulled out a large shell he found. He blew into the shell. A return bellow came back. And this back and forth continued until they cleared the chasm. The group flew higher into the air and he looked down through the clear bodies to see where he had gone wrong. Maybe it was when he took the left? Or was it the turn at the watering hole earlier? It didn’t matter. He lost and he was tired. At least this time the little ones were kind enough to not drag him upside down all the way back. Or, when some of the older jellies had joined the game, smothered up his neck in gelatinous goo. That had been an experience like no other. Worse had been the first time, when no one knew the limits of his fragile body and they tried to drag him back by his legs. He had spent several days recuperating from that game. 

He settled himself cross-legged on the group and looked around. Large birds were flying next to him. He waved an arm at the bird creature who in turn let out a welcoming cry. The caught an updraft and soared higher, each squawking as they rose. 

_Sure must be nice to be able to fly like this._ The voice commented. _Too bad we couldn’t do the same._

 _Hey, we’ll figure this out together._ He returned the thought. 

_Sure we will._

He looked at the column of purple smoke rising up in the distance. With a smile, he urged the mass to hurry up. 

He didn’t wait for the group to touch ground before he disembarked. His feet touched ground before the group could drop off the mound of eels. The young jellies all floated away to find the rest of their family while two jellies approached him.

He looked at them, one frilled and so large that his arms could only warp around one single tentacle in greeting. This was his Healer. The other was smaller but the best he could do was throw his arms around the dome body and squeeze. This one was his Minder. 

“Back!” He chirped. 

The Healer plucked him up in a tentacle, looking him over this way and that, a scowling tone to its gurgle. He for his part just smiled and stayed still while a tentacle was run over his check, soft and warm, causing him to close his eyes and lean into the touch. 

His ears perked up as he heard something coming towards them. With a whack, he found himself enveloped by tiny palm sized jellies, each chirping and whistling for his attention. The Healer lowered him down to the ground and ruffled his light grey hair as he tried to grab the small jellies to no avail. 

He motioned for them to form a ring. They did. He reached into his makeshift bag, made from a green stiff pod that fell from a large purple tree, and pulled out several small orange-blue fruits. The little jellies all threw their tentacles into the air as he tossed out the fruits for consumption. As the little ones zoomed away, he turned to the frilled and pearly white jelly. They took his offerings with zeal and munched away at the fruit. 

He grinned and waved before wandering off to walk among the pods of creatures, biting into the juicy and tangy fruit. Some came over to dance in front of him, all joyful chirps and whistles while others scattered away from him. He frowned at this action, hard to ignore when he was being blatantly excluded and feared. 

As much as the lead Healer tried to make it easy for him, there was still the communication gap. He could understand very little of their tonal language save a few common sounds for joy and what he assumed was hello. And then was the fact that he knew that he was drastically different from them all. He was an outsider among the jellies. 

_No need to be upset._ The voice in his head soothed. _We’ll get through this together._

He stopped and formed a fist as a large jelly pulled an armful of small ones away from him. He ground his teeth together. Why wasn’t he one of them? It would make living with them so much easier. No one would try to run from him. 

_Hey! Calm down. Don’t hurt yourself._

But he wasn’t listening. The wind picked up around him, flushing the grass at his feet. He just wanted to belong…was it so much to ask? To belong to someone, somewhere. He squeezed his eyes shut as a sharp pain shot through his head, forcing him down to one knee as the intensity burned. 

And before the pain got worse, blood was pouring from his yellow eye. His hand reached up and pulled away, fingertips stained red. A pained cry escaped his throat. Black spots danced in his view as he panicked, barely registering the blue-white flames that were engulfing his head. He reached out a hand, fury building up in his body. He was screaming, enraged, pleading. Between the black spots, he could see blue petals dancing. It hurt so much! 

A shift. The flames died down just as the Healer had made its way to the human. Water rained down on the human from the Healer’s tentacle, dousing out the remaining flames. It laid a tentacle on the human’s shoulder. A cold hand came up to return the kind gesture, fingers clinging and digging into the warm of the tentacle. 

“We’ll be fine.” The human turned his face, yellow eye staring intently at the jelly. “Just fine.” 

Following a quick jab into the shoulder from the tentacle placed there, the Healer placed a tentacle over the human’s eyes, humming as a smaller one darted forward to cradle the human’s body as he fell asleep from the sedative given. Grey tipped tentacles got to work mending the eye trauma. The dome body glowed a muted powdered gold, its worry broadcasted for all to see. 

As soon as the treatment was rendered, the Healer carried the unconscious human back to the healing facility. With little ceremony, the jelly peeled away the protective layer of clothing and placed the human onto a bed. The smaller jelly that accompanied the frilled one darted forward and wrapped itself around the human, glowing orange and radiating heat while humming a lullaby.

This has been one of several disturbances spanning the last few days. What ever was causing this also caused bits and pieces of the human’s mind to settle back into place. The human was more aware and active compared to when he first arrived here as a blank slate. The recent change in behavior and chipper attitude was promising but there was an underlying concern to what the memory recovery was costing the human. 

Maybe it would be best if the human just started over from this point on. It wouldn’t be so hard to put a permanent seal in place to partition off the older memories and allow new ones to fill in the spaces. Even if the seal wasn’t typically used in this manner, it would be nobler than its archaic use as punishment. 

This would require reading to ensure the best seal was placed. Would the seal even work on a human? Maybe the jelly would set this as an applied theory for the trainees to master. Better to have several who could step in if there were breaks in the seal given its untested nature in a human test subject. With a huff of air, it poked its tired dome and realized it would have to start leaving for the council gathering that had been announced. 

The Healer stopped by a large filled bin. On top were the small machines that had fallen from the human’s ear. It grabbed the tiny hearing machines and packaged them to be couriered away. There was so much to prepare for the human. The Healer pulled out several tomes on old seals from a basket and placed the tomes inside itself for reading during the more boring parts of the meeting. 

Finishing that, it took in more oxygen, inflating itself to full height. A healer made sure their charge was able to fend for themselves, even if that meant defying orders. There was fear filling the older generation who were prone to making rash decisions in the heat of the moment. It wasn’t sure it could placate their fears for much longer and wondered if the middle generation of jellies would have to choose a side. It poked its dome again, feeling fatigued. A chirp from the beds caught its attention. 

The jelly that had stayed with the human had draped several large fuzzy leaves to keep the human warm. They murmured between themselves about the next stage in the human’s recover before they left. 

The human slept peacefully on, one eye glowing yellow behind closed eyelids. It dreamt of fire and screaming. It dreamt of colored sparks and fizzy drinks. It dreamt of a binding handshake.

* * *

The Council was trying to get all the jellies to settle. A lone jelly rose up, tendrils trailing behind in large curtains as it flashed bright yellow in warning to those present to be quiet. A moment later, a behemoth of a jelly pulsed orange. The meeting had begun. Some of the older jellies moved forward with their concerns. 

There was something about the human that pulsed with energy that seemed not his own. It showed at the fine edges of his personality. In the extremely pale flames that engulfed him when he recovered another sliver of his memory. 

The human was becoming more of a beacon for danger that far outweighed the help and meager protection he was providing. He was unable to properly communicate with even the youngest and could only click out a meager hello at best. Just today he had turned their food retrieval team into a mockery with his game of chase. 

At least the young ones had fun unlike some of the older generation that was all _"rules and regulations"_. 

They debated among themselves, angry warbles and short curt clicks being thrown back and forth. It wasn’t until someone let out a gurgle followed by two clicks and a low, soft hum that the debate turn in a brawl. A bright red jelly shot up and rammed itself into the offending jelly. Angry gurgles cut through the fight and soon the pair was encircled. Red tentacles shot up on one side and the other flushed green. A jelly was trying to get everyone to calm down, shuttering between blue and purple. 

A low groan made the larger jellies scatter and then, a thick clear tentacles slammed down onto those who remained to watch the fight, causing the ground to shake violently. For most, the shaking did little to disturb them. 

The human on the other hand, had been tossed in the air and landed with a yelp onto the bed. _Where am I? I have to move. This place isn’t stable! Have to move now!_ He thought as he tore through the strewn objects around him. 

“The darkness is already here!” He looked around and saw only a pale yellow glow. “Need to get out! Need to find the way out!” 

Whistles were coming from around him. So where muffled gurgles. He stifled a scream as he felt something cool touch his feet before he pulled away and fled further into the darkness. He was being pursued, there were so many that wanted to destroy him. If he could just get away, he could find a way out of this wretched and doomed place. Get out and…and…

And **_what?_**

Something snapped around his legs. He let out a roar that ripped at his throat as he clawed at what was binding his legs. He felt rather than saw something wrap around his arms. As he turned his attention to whatever around his arms, a blinding light greeted him. He stopped his attack and was enveloped in soft squishy warmth. His hair was being brushed back and he could feel rhythmic tones against his chest. He took in a ragged breath through his mouth, still feeling his heart beating loudly and out of time with the tones. He splayed out his fingers and curled his toes. Calm was sinking into his body and he was able to take in his surroundings. There were shelves filled with odd roots, vials of rainbow colored liquids, and pots of finely ground powders. He was in the healing facility’s mixing room. 

He relaxed, heartbeat falling into time with the tones he heard and the tentacles that held him softened their hold. His tongue felt heavy and dry in his mouth as he coughed and hacked. A cup filled to the brim was handed to him as the jelly continued to run a tentacle through his hair. 

The cool sensation hit the back of his throat and grounded him. He looked at the jelly, his Minder, and saw it pulsing a pastel blue. He licked his lips and gently head butted the jelly. It drew back, tentacles flying to the place their heads had made contact, blubbering frantically while flashing purple and white. The human only replied with a laugh, spilling the liquid over himself. 

He looked down and realized his garments were gone. He started to look around for the clothes. The jelly rushed out to the hallway and returned moments later with a fresh outfit which had been picked up when they had left on a short outing to buy much needed medical rations. The fabric seller was more than ecstatic to take on a challenge such as stitching up clothes for the human’s body shape. (They mentioned something about most customers being round and that left little to the imagination.) 

“Thanks.” The human gently patted his Minder’s dome as he took the clothing into his hands. 

One outfit change later, both jelly and human arrived at the council meeting despite the jelly trying to push him back into bed. He pushed back and clung to the jelly’s dome body. The jelly gave up at that point and floated out with the human running to catch up. They arrived to see the behemoth of a jelly picking out smaller ones from its tentacle. 

“Righto. What happened?” He frowned, turning to the scattered jellies. 

Chirps and whistles were his only reply. 

“Right, ask the creature’s whose language you can’t speak!.” He sighed. 

A couple of the really young jellies flew over to him and engulfed him in their warmth. He nuzzled them in turn and looked up at the arguing jellies. His Healer was inspecting all the injured jellies while holding back a few others who were angrily warbling and displaying shades of red and yellow. Even as others were trying to settle the argument he somehow knowing that some matters had to be handled through physical means. 

He frowned and with a hand wave, he motioned for his Minder to follow as he walked towards the horizon. 

The night was still young as he started his meandering, using the faint yellow glow from his eye to guide his way. 

_Penny for your thoughts?_

_Like you need to ask._ He looked back his Minder who was humming as it floated along. 

_I didn’t like the tone of the conversation._

_Understatement. It was angry. Hostile. I don’t know if we can trust them anymore._

He stopped. The jelly behind him started to glow gold. 

“I… **We** can trust you right?” He turned to the jelly. 

His Minder lifted up two tentacles and wrapped them around the human. It helped calm the uncertainty piling up. With a strained grunt, the jelly placed the human on its dome body and started to glide along the ground. The human stared up at the stars from where he came. They coasted along in silence, the jelly’s body now illuminating the area around them. 

Then they were flying, looping in mid-air as the human dug its fingers in the squishy body. He let out a click of joy that caused the jelly below him to glow vibrant pink. The yellow eye shone brightly and he held up a hand. Small white flames appeared tailing them as they danced in the night sky, forming abstract shapes in their wake. Struck with inspiration, he smiled widely, teeth showing in the flames weak light. He closed his brown eye. 

“Yeah! Let’s put on a show!” He curled his fingers and concentrated. Colored lights filled the night sky. 

The jelly stopped it’s prancing, mesmerized by the lights. It raised a tentacle to touch an orb of light that floated down. The orb was warm and buzzed as it balanced on a tentacle. Then light went out suddenly. Something dug into its body and the Minder turned its attention upward. 

The human was low, hand clamped over it’s nose and mouth. Both eyes had small pinpricks for pupils. 

“Our name…” The human croaked. “Our name is…” 

The jelly reached up and pulled the human down, wrapping tentacles together to cradle the human as it curled up into a small tight ball. His eyes were still open wide and lips mouthed words without sound. Blood was trailing down both his eyes. The jelly panicked, a tentacle going grey as it tried to stop the bleeding. But the blood continued to flow and the jelly shot itself towards the colony’s base, body glowing warm and humming more to calm itself then the catatonic, bleeding human. 

The head Healer was going to kill it! It had begged and pleaded to the head Healer to watch over the human since it had gotten glimpse into his mind. The bleakness of an empty mind and the fuzzy warm memories had won over its pity. The Minder had made first contact with the human; it had suffered the consequences of a peering gone terribly, terribly wrong; it had been there to help the human settle in following both of their discharge. They had recovered together! 

And now the human was dying! Dying because it wanted to see the human smile instead of the perpetual frown he had been showing these last few days. Despite the lack of communication, the human had gotten the message that some feared it. Feared what it could do with its flames and how its brown eye seemed to see right through them all. 

The Minder willed itself to fly faster, slicing through the air. The glow died, as did the heat, the Minder focusing its energy to get back faster. It had pulled the human closer to the middle of its body as it aimed straight for the healing facility. And then, it rammed into one of the lit windows. Glass shards went flying everywhere and the Healer let out a shriek of alarm before turning a pale green as the human was deposited on an exam table. 

One tentacle went right to work while another was trying to beat the irresponsible jelly dancing just out of reach. Yet another was pointing to a winged jelly to fly posthaste with its precious cargo to the nearest sprawling intergalactic port. 

The Healer peered into the mind of the human and saw the few recovered memories cracking. Unfocused memories were pouring into the empty space, loud overlapping voices filling the silence, and the blue petals engulfing memories whole. The inside of this human’s mind was decaying. 

The human couldn’t wait any longer. If the Healer hesitated to put a stop to this influx and destruction, then the human would either return to the blank slate he had been when he arrived, or he would be beyond anyone’s help. 

The Healer let out a loud bellow. It turned to the present jelly and raised a tentacle. Would the Minder be willing to risk bodily injury for the sake of the human once more?

The Minder swelled up, turning determined red and floated over to the human’s head. It placed tentacles on the human’s temples as several jellies lazily floated in, sleep still having a hold over them. As soon as they saw the Healer setting the human upright, they all realized what was about to take place. They floated over, linked a set of tentacles and placed one on the exam table. 

The Healer placed its tentacle as to overlap the Minder’s tentacles on the human’s head. The tips turned brilliant white. White arches of electricity filled the air and the ring of jellies were directing it to the ground. 

The two jellies in the epicenter of the building whirlwind shared a look. The procedure that was about to happen would need to be recorded and remember for any emergencies that would come up in the future. There was little room for error so best to keep up. 

Then they plunged into the fragile mind of the human, armed to the top of their dome body with tenacity. Come morning, the human was going to be alive and well no matter how long it took or how many memories they sealed away.

* * *

The sunlight was rising over a mess of tentacles and bodies. The exam table lay bare. 

On top of the facility, eyes glued to the sunrise was a grey haired man who was humming a tune, happily chirping out exclamations and giggling with joy in rapid succession. As the sun finally rose higher into the air, he stretched out his limbs, popping his sore joints with gusto. 

He heard the panicked gurgle of his caregivers and the pitter-patter of tentacles turning over everything in the exam room. He let out a laugh, tears forming at the edge of his eyes. Placing his thumb and forefinger into his mouth, he let out a whistle that silenced the exchange in the building. A jelly poked its domed head out and the human popped his head over the edge of the building, waving rather fervently. His Minder pushed itself out the window and floated up towards the human. The joyful Minder tackled the human and held him in its grip as if he would vanish in the wind, gurgling in both joy and relief. 

A frilled tentacle latched on the edge of the building, seeking a firm grip as the Healer tried to force its body out before being properly deflated to fit through. Once the Healer was out, the smaller ones followed in order to see the end results of the entire night procedure. 

The human wiggled his way out of the jelly’s grip and stepped back towards the edge of the building. He bent forward at the waist, a smile much too wide plastered on his face. Yellow and brown eyes much too open.

With ease, the human chirped and whistled his first complete sentences to the jellies present. Something that made one jelly feel like the seal wasn’t as permanent as they had thought. 

“The name's Cipher, Stanford Lee Cipher. Call **_US_** Stan!” Stan held out a hand in greeting. "Nice to finally talk to ya!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I stared this chapter, it was set up completely different. But the part with Stan got longer and longer...so I split the original chapter into two different chapters. Next chapter shows the morning after the party and what the Pines will be cooking up in order to save their Stanley. 
> 
> Sometimes being optimistic is its own reward. Wether or not its well placed is a whole different story.


	5. Training (or never deny the power of Dipper and Mabel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training! Science! The questionable logic of adults that would encourage children to put life and limb in danger! The power of the young Pines Twin. 
> 
> Sometimes, it better to just step aside and let Dipper and Mabel do what needs to be done. They'll do it one way or another.

The morning sun rose, bathing the sleepy town in warm rose and gold. Normally stores would be opening at this time but everyone was sleeping in. The party that started the night before ended until the night sky began to lighten. 

In the Mystery Shack, a heap of limbs and blankets was in the dead center of the living room. At some point as the party wound to a close, Mabel, Ford, and Dipper had been ferried into the living room and placed upon blankets and pillows before more blankets were piled onto them. They were lightly snoring, the effects of the spiked punch having worn off. Mabel always made sure to have some emergency Mabel Juice on hand in the event of an emergency party. 

Soos had fallen asleep against the wall in the exhibit area and had a patchwork quilt wrapped around him and pillows on either side to keep him propped up. 

Wendy was snoozing away on the couch in the break room, mouth agape and muttering something about breaking the log rolling records before turning over, cocooning herself in a felt blanket. 

It was hard to know that an extravaganza took place until not too long ago. While a majority of the town had left for their beds, a few more conscientious townsfolk stuck around to do cleaning. On the table awaited a buffet of breakfast for the Pines family and friends for whenever they woke up. 

And so passed the first 24 hours after the arrival of Dipper and Mabel. 

As for the hour following that: Ford was the first one up, groggy as he tried to escape the web of blankets. The twins just sighed and pulled the blankets closer. He felt around for his glasses before they fell from his front pocket. With a yawn, he popped his stiff joints and meandered into the kitchen. A pot of coffee was waiting for him and he was tempted to pour it straight into his mouth. Deciding that wasn’t the best course of action, he poured it into a mug that has been laid out for him. 

The bitter taste hit his tongue and his brain was jolted awake. Ford took another sip, more aware of his surroundings this time around. For the most part, there were little signs of the party aside from the odd streak of glitter (some of which made him wonder what had transpired to get stuck there of all places). 

He was busy starting up the initial equations when he heard the gasp of his young niece and nephew. Hurrying along to calm them down, he walked into the living room with his arms full of a ream of paper and pens scattering as he walked. 

“I’m here!” He called out to calm the panicking voices. “I just had to get coffee.”

The twins dug their way out of the blanket, rubbing sleep out of their eye as they saw their Grunkle Ford standing in the archway. 

“What smells so good?” Dipper asked. 

“Looks like the townsfolk left us breakfast.” Ford smiled. “And we can’t start working unless we get some food in our stomach.” 

The twins had no argument and followed their Grunkle Ford into the kitchen. 

Ford watched his niblings eat and picked up the phone as soon as it started to ring. He figured it would be the first of many phone calls that day in addition to people stopping by. 

His hunch was proven correct when there was a pounding at the door. Fiddleford was the first one in, stating that he may not have all his memories back but that he had more than his share of smarts to contribute. 

“Never hurts to have someone to split the work with!” He smiled as he accepted the cup of coffee Ford provided. As Fiddleford continued to sip the coffee, he felt something touch his arm. A pile of green yarn sat in front of him. Mabel was already knitting away, starting another project. Fiddleford picked up the thing on the table and realized it was a green sweater with black wording spelling out “Pines Rescue Team Member” on the front. “Thanks Mabel!” 

Mabel nodded, as she was halfway done with a smaller sweater. She was already wearing one that said “Rescue Mission! Rescue Mission!” along with the fish emblem that was on Stan’s fez. 

Dipper for his part was gnawing on his pen cap, journal splayed in front of him. He was asking Ford several questions about the stability of the Nightmare Realm and what the thinning of reality could mean for their world. He scrawled every response down and would sometimes mumble to himself. 

Ford shuffled some paperwork around and handed half a stack of complete equations to Fiddleford. “Here, I’ve managed to set up the equation to track the opening of rifts. From there I was hoping we could use that to predict where another may open and with some fine tuning, use it to start pinpoint weak spots in the fabric…”

Fiddleford took the stack in hand, eyes running over the equations. His mind started to calculate, like gears finally turning after being still for far too long. He was able to follow Ford’s thoughts and even see the weakness of the equation as it currently stood. 

“Ford,” Fiddleford stopped reviewing the equations, “why are you doing this?” 

Ford stopped his rambling and looked at Fiddleford. “I…” He scrunched his eyebrows together and lowered his gaze. “I want to repay Stanley for what’s he’s done.”

“So you’re doing it this out of guilt?” 

“No!” Ford looked insulted. “No! That’s not it!”

“Then you’re just paying him back.”

“No, Fiddleford, that’s not it at all. We…I just started to understand him. It wasn’t until I saw him being pulled away from me that I realized how much I missed out on. Stanley spent so much time trying to bring be back and I was trying to turn my back on him again. But even then, he came along to rescue me. If I had just kept my mouth shut, he would have continued to hold my hand and he wouldn’t have had to erase his memory. He would be here right now and we’d be a whole family.” Ford let the stack slip from his head. He lifted a trembling hand to shield his eyes. “I just want my brother back.”

Warm arms snaked their way around him. He peered through his fingers and saw his niblings hugging him tightly.

“We want him back too.” They spoke. “We’ll get him back one way or another.” 

Fiddleford let out a sigh. “I didn’t mean to upset ya. I was just trying to understand your thinking Stanford. It’s been a while.” 

They shared a sad smile. Fiddleford just returned to the stack of equations in front of him, red pen at the ready. Whatever was motivating Ford was genuine. He was sure that the mess of hiccups and half sobs probably held some kind of noble speech but the only thing that came across crystal clear was the statement: “I just want my brother back.” And who was he to prevent family reuniting? Since he and Tate made up, everyday was better than the one before, and bits and pieces of the man he once used to be was coming back. It shouldn’t take them and the town very long to start the rescue mission. 

At least that was his thought before he got through the first page of equations. “Ford, noble goal and all is good, but you’re losing your basic grasp of quantum physics.” Fiddleford held out a page marred with red marks. 

“No!” Ford gasped and pulled away the paper. “I studied theories while traveling the dimensions! How could I blunder something like this?!”

This was going to be a long rescue operation, Fiddleford thought as he got up, leaving Ford ranting at the table. He poured himself another cup of coffee and started to scrounge in the cupboard for more grounds. Brilliance was born from necessity and coffee. At least it did in this household. 

“Youngins, why don’t the both of you head into town to buy us old timers some more caffeine?” He dug out his wallet from his beard and handed over some bills to Dipper and Mabel. In a lower voice he added, “And get something for yourselves. My treat.” 

Dipper and Mabel were running out the door quickly, money clenched in their hands. 

_Ah, to not be old men._ Fiddleford thought as he closed the door and turned to see his old friend pouring over the corrections, hoping to find something to justify his original calculations. _Ah, to be an old man._

“Why don’t you show me the burnt out dohicky that you used in your travels? I can try to reverse engineer it.”

Ford looked up, eyes wide. “But it’s all alien technology.”

“Stanford Pines. Are you questioning my abilities?”

Ford stood up. “I’ll go get it.” 

Fiddleford continued to nurse his coffee and look over the other theories Stanford had drawn up. Several were viable theories to follow and some he would outright reject especially since the children would most likely find a way to sneak into their attempts. Best to just involve them right away. Then a creeping thought occurred to him: 

_How were they going to fake their school attendance while they were out rescuing Stanley pines? Do I need to buy off the school system?_

This was going to require more coffee. 

By the time Dipper and Mabel returned, arms filled with snacks and coffee, Ford and Fiddleford were already commanding townsfolk to start pulling together scrap metal and soldering tools. 

A high school science teacher was busy writing down a list of solvents that were going to be used in the production of batteries when they spotted Dipper and Mabel.

“There you two are! I hope you both are planning to take notebooks on this rescue mission. I expect an essay when you get back.” The well-dressed woman snapped her notebook closed and strode out the door. “Make sure your Great Uncle Stanford goes over the materials I left behind. Rescue mission or not, I have to give some report to your parents.”

Dipper and Mabel exchanged a look that screamed _‘I had some assumptions on what was going to happen on this rescue mission. Homework wasn’t one of them!’_

“Grunkle Ford! Please tell me we aren’t going to be writing up essays on this mission?” Mabel dropped off the snacks on the table as the adults all took a break from the planning. 

“Well…she was quite insistent on it.” 

Dipper looked at the stack of materials and rolled his eyes. He could finish this in his sleep. “And I thought high school was suppose to be hard.” 

“Easy for you to say Dipper!” Mabel looked crestfallen at the stack of schoolwork. “I was going to use this mission to find some space yarn and knit Grunkle Stan a welcome home sweater.” 

AS the two squabbled over the value of homework on a rescue mission, Ford ruffled through the stack of paper until he found what he was looking for: Plans for two small portable portal jumpers. 

“Dipper, Mabel, I need to discuss with you the matter of portal hopping.” 

Their eyes were wide as they turned to stare at their Grunkle in awe. “Portal hopping…?” Ford recalled when the mere thought of portal hopping was met with the same kind of fascination. 

“Well yes. Any attempt to try and stop you will result in failure. You will find a way to sneak into the first jump and if you’re not prepared for what is waiting for you on the other side, your parents will hunt me down. And I’d rather be lost in the multiverse than face the wrath of your parents. So it is better to try to construct protection for you and start your training now.” He placed a hand on their shoulder. “Will you help me rescue my brother?”

Dipper and Mabel placed their hand on his. “We’ll be with you every step of the way, Grunkle Ford. To the end of the universe and back.” 

“Good, because we may need to go there.” He gave their shoulder a squeeze and then narrowed his eyes. “But first, we need to be ready for anything. For that, you two will need to be in top physical and mental form.” 

“Oh! Oh!” Mabel hopped from foot to foot. “Are you going to train us to fight aliens? Make some kind of nerdy potion that gives us super powers?”

“I can use an ax!” Dipper held up his arms. “I had to spend all summer chopping wood. It was Grunkle Stan’s idea.” 

“That’s a good start Dipper. And no Mabel, no potions.” Ford fondly smiled. “But we are going to have start a training regimen.”

“Bah!” Mabel threw a handful of sequins into the air and a flash blinded Dipper and Ford. “That one’s going onto the training montage page!” She pulled out the instant picture and smiled at it. The dumbfounded and awed faces of Dipper and Ford stared back at her, sparkling sequins caught in their hair. “When do we start? I need to start scrapbooking the process!” 

The process itself didn’t start until several days later and some begging on Ford’s part to get Wendy involved, despite the fact that after some less than flattering sniveling later, she had told him that she was already planning to train Dipper regardless of him wanting her to or not; Ford swore that once all this was said and done, he would get his revenge and burn the recording Wendy had. 

“Yo!” Wendy dropped into the shack with her ax at her side. “Dipper, you ready to start handling an ax like a pro?”

“Am I ever!” He had grabbed one better suited to his stature and laced up his boots. “What are we doing first? Ax throwing? Fighting off gnomes?”

“Nope,” Wendy twirled her ax in hand. “Just some good old wood chopping with my Dad.” 

Mabel snorted into her cereal at the look of shock on her brother’s face. 

“No way! I did that all summer long!” Dipper balled up his fists. 

“Yeah, and your form is still wrong.” Wendy pulled down the brim of his cap. “You have to get the essentials down first, Dipper. Otherwise everything I try to teach you will be that much harder to master. ‘sides, I know you got this. I believe in you man.” 

Dipper looked up and puffed up his chest in pride. “Then let’s go! Those logs won’t know what hit them!” 

Wendy and Dipper headed out just as Ford walked into the kitchen, cup of steaming coffee in hand and Fiddleford drowning under a mass of charts and blueprints. 

“I told you Ford, if we don’t find a way to ground the excess build up, it will burn through the wires.”

“But the hopper worked just fine when I used it!” Ford sipped his coffee.

“I understand, but I’m telling you, the composition of the wires themselves can’t be replicated exactly. “

“What about the lab you sent the samples off to?” 

Fiddleford waved a letter in the air. “It will take them 3 or 4 years to make enough for one, let alone how many we’re planning on making.”

“That’s too long!” Ford’s anger faded into the background as he and Fiddleford descended into the research lab. 

Mabel walked her bowl of cereal over to the kitchen sink. Outside the window, she could see Wendy and Manly Dan working with Dipper on his posture before letting him strike a log. He drove the ax swiftly through the wood, splitting the log in only 4 swings. He looked back, an ecstatic look on his face. Wendy gave a ‘Not Bad’ look while Manly Dan ripped his shirt in half while yelling loudly “REDUCE SWINGS TO 3!” Dipper turned back to the chopping block and pulled the ax from where it was imbedded. 

Several pictures later, Mabel was waiting on the porch, tapping her foot impatiently. 

“Sorry Mabel dear,” Ford appeared on the porch, patting his shoulder as smoke wafted off of him. “Small mishap in the basement.” 

“No prob Bob!” Mabel started to jog in place. “Let’s go! 150 laps around the forest!” 

“Wait, Mabel!” But she was already shooting down the road. Ford let out a yelp and ran off, trying to catch up to his niece. 

When he had told Dipper and Mabel the need for a training program, it was clear who would be the best teacher for Dipper. Mabel on the other hand, a ball of unending energy, needed something more…special. Ford spoke to her about her stamina. He had never seen anything like Mabel, who would flitter from project to project, drag her family into town on “family bonding!” missions, and stay up days at a time sustaining on a drink of her own creation. (Ford recalled the first time he had a glass of ‘Mabel Juice’ he felt like he was able to solve the entire world’s problems and was found several days later on the roof of the local diner raving about having broken the secret of interstellar communication with a species of space gnomes and was setting up a satellite dish to prove this theory. Ford self imposed a lifetime ban on Mabel Juice when he finally regained his composure.)

Ford rounded a bend and saw Mabel climbing up a tree. “Mabel! We still need to continue our training!” 

“Just a second Grunkle Ford.” Mabel scooted along a branch, a hand close to her chest. She reached a large tidy nest and placed a fluffy bird among other similar chicks. The bird chirped, most of the downy feathers replaced by glossy feathers. It flapped its wings and settled in among it’s worried siblings. Mabel hurried down the tree and jogged over to her Grunkle, taking his hand into her own and pulling him along. “Let’s get back to running! We need you to build up your stamina!”

Ford swallowed as Mabel gained speed. Maybe his age was finally showing but it seemed a good idea at the time. Ford wanted to increase his stamina to keep up with his 13 year old great niece and Mabel was learning to use her grappling hook in a more offensive manner. 

“But I already know how to use my grappling hook!” She pulled it out and zoomed up a tree. “I just point and shoot.” 

“Yes, but there is so much more you can do with that.” Ford pointed at the grappling hook as Mabel reeled it in. “And once you learn to use it well, you can move onto other projectile weapons.” 

Mabel’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “Weapons?” She whispered. 

“Yes. I can’t guarantee that we’ll always be safe.” Ford had already had a similar conversation with Dipper earlier in the day. “Or that out there, there isn’t someone who won’t try to capture me, but I will do my best to protect you. And…” His voiced softened as Mabel’s feet touched the ground, “and I hope that you two don’t have to worry about protecting me.” 

The poor girl looked like she was about to cry. “Grunkle Ford…is…will Grunkle Stan be ok? We’ve waited so long to start this rescue mission. What if he’s somewhere and is hurt? What about Bill’s Henchmen?” Her lower lip trembled. 

Ford knelt down and scooped her up into his arms. “Oh Mabel.” He stroked her hair as she buried her face into his shoulder. “I don’t know where Stan is. I can’t say he isn’t somewhere dangerous. But you know what?” 

“What?”

“Stanley’s a fighter. He’s a survivor. And I know that he will do his best while we work to save him.” Ford murmured. “And there’s also a chance he landed somewhere safe too.” 

“Really?” Mabel pulled away to look at her Grunkle, tears beading against her eyelashes. 

“Yes. I hope that me being here is proof enough.” 

Mabel hugged her Grunkle Ford tightly. As soon as she was released, she ran straight to her brother and tackled him into a spine-breaking hug. 

“Don’t ever get sucked into a portal Dipper.” She said. 

“I won’t.” Dipper replied in a strained voice. 

“Good.”

Mabel insisted they all sleep in a blanket fort in the living room. No one protested. In fact, Ford remembered the forts he and his brother had built whenever one or both were upset. Soon he started regaling the twins with stories of his and Stan’s childhood. 

“Grunkle Ford, I think it’s time you start drinking Mabel juice again.” Mabel’s voice pulled him from his reminiscing. 

Ford let out a groan. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” 

“I put it in your coffee.”

“When? I guard the coffee pot with 24 hour surveillance cameras!” 

“Psh!” Mabel blew a raspberry. “Cameras can’t stop the power of Mabel!” 

Ford chewed his lip as he thought about permanently drinking from the coffee pot in his research lab. At least that one was securely behind not just a code locked door but required additional clearance only he and Fiddleford had. 

“And don’t think I don’t know about your coffee pot in the basement! There’s where I learned how to sneak it into your drinks! Think about it Granule Ford, who else would be leaving you food to eat during the day?”

_I have a great niece who is named Mabel. She is entirely human. ENTIRELY HUMAN._

But Ford was convinced that there had to be a part of Mabel that wasn’t entirely human when she really did complete the 150 laps around the forest, shaming Ford with his measly 75 laps. She insisted that he then teach her how to rock climb. He groaned and broke down, not caring that he could now see the pink sheen in his coffee. Not time, he was asking for the undiluted stuff. 

* * *

Mabel and Dipper were quickly catching up to their mentors. Both strove to fill in the weakness of their twin. Mabel struggled to get through the science behind proper portal hopping and Dipper still couldn’t complete 50 laps. But they strived and pushed through. Ford and Wendy were relentless in their instruction and while Soos did his best to cheer both twins up, it was a tiring process. Both twins spent as much free time between sessions talking about their frustrations and sneaking extra dessert at dinnertime. 

But they saw results as Dipper graduated from wood chopping to ax throwing and Wendy suggested he learn how to use an ice ax. Mabel was able to recite the basic principal to portal hopping and demonstrated proper landing procedures before Ford set down a pocket watch in front of her with instructions to pull it part and put it back together in working order. If both could complete these latest set of challenges, then they would be ready for anything that the portals threw their way, let alone this world. 

_And,_ Ford thought as he walked down with the stairs to the basement, two carefully rolled up blueprints under this arm, _they would be ready for the final part of the training needed._

Fiddleford for his part had much to say after he reviewed the new blueprints Ford placed in front of him but Ford knew that when it came down to a life or death situation, it sometimes came down to who shot first. And how he wished that it would never come down to that. 

“They aren’t like you and your brother Ford!” Fiddelford protested, ready to throw the blueprints back at Ford. “You two are grown adults! They’re still kids!”

“Teenagers.” Ford corrected. 

“You know very well that doesn’t make a difference.” Fiddleford slammed a hand down on the table. “I tell ya, you act as if you’re arming them to face some kind of army.”

Ford clamped his mouth shut. 

“Is there something you need to tell me Ford?” 

“I…I don’t know if I’m still a wanted man. I made plenty of enemies as I did allies out there. We could run into them while searching for Stanley. They need to be ready.” 

“Then all the reason to keep them here where it’s safe!” 

“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think I have tried to come up with some kind of plan to keep them out of harms way. Look me in the eye and tell me you have a fool proof plan to keep them from following me.”

Fiddleford opened his mouth, finger poised to shake in Ford’s face when he paused. If he hadn’t seen both Mabel and Dipper fighting against Bill, he would have confidently said yes. But those two kids, even against the odds, fought to break into the pyramid. They came up with plan after plan, set up after set up, looking at all the angles. Had they been around when Standford and Fiddleford both were young adults, the power of all four combined would have made the world kneel. For the Pines family in general, all they needed was the will to save someone they cared about. The power of Family prevented the world from ending. Fiddleford shivered at the thought.

“Alright, I can’t think of anything.” Fiddleford looked over the blueprints. “But I’m still against this whole gun thing!”

“Trust me, Fiddleford. I hope that they never have to use it but I still need these built.” 

Both old men didn’t hear the soft pattering of feet heading back up the stairs. Dipper and Mabel held hands as they closed the door to the basement. Their knuckles were white. 

Dipper and Mabel stood in silence, breathing deeply before they ran up the stairs. Dipper pulled out the ice ax he was given and Mabel grabbed her mini-tool kit and pocket watch. They burned with a passion to show everyone who questioned their abilities and resolve. So what if they still had to sleep huddled next to their Grunk Ford? They would take on the world if they needed to! They would prove to Old Man McGucket and the rest of Gravity Falls the value they would add to this mission. The power of family paled in comparison to the power of Dipper and Mabel.

“We’ll show them! Come on Dipper, to the woods!” 

“Mabel, when did you have time to even put this much glitter on this ax? Ah! It’s everywhere! How did it get in my mouth? Am I going to bleed glitter?” 

The twins burst out of the Mystery Shack, armed with their challenge. They were 13 years old. They faced the end of reality and everything they loved. They came out alive. And they were scared. Their great uncle was trying to make sure they were safe, that they didn’t need to know about all his travels and what he had to do. But they were about to jump into the great unknown. And now wasn’t the time to question their ability. It was time to prove it. And where they ever going to prove it! 

“We’ll show the world the power of Dipper and Mabel!” 

“You mean, Mabel and Dipper.” 

“Same thing.” 

And if anyone ever doubted them, they were going to quickly learn what it meant to question a member of the Pines family. 

Fiddleford shuddered violently, prompting Ford to ask if he needed a blanket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how many chapters until Ford, Mabel, and Dipper step through a portal? Uh...
> 
> Next chapter? A look at Stan now that he's **"whole"** again.


End file.
